Tiella

In Omnivorous Mike Sula profiles Viktorija Todorovska, a Chicago cooking teacher—by way of Macedonia and Arizona—who has a book of Puglian recipes coming out this spring, among them this one for tiella, a casserole with potatoes, rice, and mussels.

In What’s New Sula reviews two new French boites, the Gold Coast’s Bistronomic, where chef Martial Noguier works the room as well as the kitchen, and River North’s Paris Club, R.J. and Jerrod Melman’s takeover of the former Brasserie Jo, a Frenchified Hub 51, and likely to be as popular with a certain set—if they can ignore the barnyard odor.

In Key Ingredient chef Mindy Segal goes to town with sorghum syrup, making a deconstructed carrot cake with cheesecake in place of cream cheese frosting, braised pineapple, butterscotch, a walnut-and-sorghum bar, and a coconut sorbet. Currently it’s available at her restaurant, Hot Chocolate, under the name Carrot Cake Revisited. We couldn’t get a recipe for it out of her, but there’s hilarious audio here of her behind the scenes. Next up is former Hot Chocolate chef Mark Steuer, who’s now developing his own restaurant, the Bedford. “Mark hates bananas,” said Segal. “So I thought the challenge for him wouldn’t be something so obscure, but something so common.”